Raise A Little Hell To Build A Stairway To Heaven
by GhostOfAMelody
Summary: Dean, Sam, Cas, Crowley, and a girl named Ghost get thrown together in a last ditch effort to save Sam's life. The result? The realization that the best laid plans don't always work out and that family can't always be defined by blood.
1. Prologue

Soo this is more of a season 9 AU, I'm not gonna attempt to rewrite the whole season or anything, more of just a side story. I'll get the first chapter up later today.

All characters apart from my own belong to Supernatural,

Reviews are always appreciated,

Hope you enjoy!

* * *

Every good story has a hero.

An even better story has a heroine.

Some start with "Once upon a time,"

Others start with a burning feather on the hood of a car.

With a starry-eyed heroine so scared of the unknown that it consumed her.

With a hero who hadn't lost his way, but had it forced out of him.

With two brothers lost in a world of chaos that they created and couldn't control.

With a villain split between the king he once was and the man he could've been.

With a family created under a sky of fire and ash.


	2. Definitely not aliens

All rights belong to Supernatural,

Reviews are always appreciated,

Enjoy!

* * *

"Nate, you're cutting out...I can't hear you!" Ghost pressed her cellphone tighter against her ear as her cousin's voice faded in and out.

"Meteor shower...check it out...bye." The line went dead and Ghost stuck her phone back in her pocket with a sigh. Living out on an acreage meant dropped calls were as frequent as stray cats going after her aunt's chickens. A quick peek out the kitchen window did, however, confirm the meteor shower her cousin had spoken about. She grabbed her uncle's old plaid coat and ran out the front door, pushing the sleeves up as she went. Ghost sprinted madly towards her old pickup truck, hardly hesitating as she hoisted herself up into the bed and landed painfully on the sacks of gravel residing there. She had previously been angry with her uncle for not letting her park in the garage but the spot on the lawn that her truck was on now provided a mostly unobstructed view of the sky. As she stared upwards it striked her as odd how these meteors behaved differently from the ones she had seen before; instead of arcing across the sky, these ones fell straight down from tiny bursts of light. She brushed this off as some atmospheric difference and continued to watch unperturbed. After watching for nearly half an hour the need for a more comfortable seat arose and she got up to see if she could find a blanket or something in the cab. Ghost silently thanked her aunt for always being concerned about her wellbeing as she fished a neatly folded blanket out from under the passenger side seat and raised it in the air in victory as she slammed the door shut. Before she could head back to her seat, a small object on the hood caught her eye.

Resting lightly was a heavily singed feather, all curled up and still glowing faintly red. It crumbled into a pile of ash as soon as she attempted to pick it up. There were no birds nearby and it certainly wasn't a chicken feather so its origin was a mystery to her. Looking up with a more skeptical eye this time she followed one of the meteors closest to her and it fell just beyond the treeline at the edge of the property. Curiosity took over every rational thought she had and she had climbed into the truck and started it up before rethinking her actions. The only plausible explanation that came to mind was aliens. She had never believed in them before but there was a time for everything. There would either be a giant chunk of rock or a small green creature waiting for her in the forest and she couldnt decide what would be worse.

Ghost drove to the end of the lane before stopping and reversing back onto the lawn. She did this five more times until she finally forced herself to keep going down the road, stopping just outside the patch of trees she had saw the meteor land. As the car engine died away, no sound filled the void left behind; the woods were dead silent. A phenomena she had read about but never actually experienced. It did little to ease her fear and she fought with herself for several minutes before getting out of the vehicle. Having forgot a flashlight in her rush to leave, only the light of her cellphone served as a guide as she worked her way into the trees. She ducked around branches for a little while until reaching a break in the trees, she prepared herself for the worst even though she hasn't known what to expect. Instead of a smoking crator or saucer shaped objects with blinking lights, Ghost found herself facing a man, one who paid her no interest as he watched the meteors above him.

"You didn't happen to see what fell over here did you? I think one of the meteors dropped too low and I wonder if you saw it too." Ghost said to him warily.

"The angels are falling." The man muttered to himself in a husky voice.

"Angels? Now I think that's a little far fetched, Mister. What we're dealing with here is clearly weather related and our best bet is to just call the police and let them deal with it." The man still wasn't listening to her.

"It's my fault."

"Sir, meteor showers are entirely natural events and you can hardly take the blame for this sort of thing. Now if you'll help me find it.." Ghost trailed off as she stared at him more closely. Even in the dim light of her phone she could see he was covered in scratches and bits of leaves and bark. Dreading what she'd see, she took another peek up at the sky and the unusual size of the "meteors." They took on a more familiar shape as they got closer to the ground. "Oh no, you were what I saw fall."

The man finally snapped out of what ever trance he had been in and gave her a confused look. "Who are you?"

"The name's Ghost. You're not some kind of alien creature are you? I don't do well with alien creatures." She took a step back from him just in case.

"My name's Castiel. I am- I used to be - an angel of the lord."

It never occured to Ghost that what she was doing broke a hugely vital rule of common sense; don't bring a complete stranger to your house. Especially don't bring a complete stranger who you watched fall from the sky to your house. And lastly, don't bring a complete stranger who claims to be an angel of the lord responsible for the other complete strangers falling from the sky to your house. And yet something in his expression made her determined to help him, even though he resisted all attempts of hers to get him to leave. It was only after her mention of a phone for him to use that he finally agreed to go with her, following her back to the truck. Ghost noticed that as soon as the man was out of the trees, the birds and frogs began to sing once more, as if the absence of his presence brought them a sense of security.

"I used to believe in angels." Ghost began conversationally and Cas didn't respond, but he did look her way so she continued speaking. "I used to think that everyone had a guardian angel assigned to them at birth and it was their job to protect you. The kids at school would all make fun of me for it so one day I jumped off the top of the jungle gym to prove them wrong. I was so sure my angel would catch me. Of course, the only thing that caught me was the ground and that ended both my obsession with angels and any chance of popularity I may have had. Thankfully I had friends to back me up, keep the bullies away, but they never did jump off the jungle gym with me. They liked me well enough, they just weren't stupid.."

Ghost realized she was rambling as soon as his eyebrows began to knit together and stayed silent for the rest of the way back home. As soon as they got back, she took him inside and showed him where the phone was before she headed to the kitchen to get him something to drink. Luckily there were chilled bottles of water so she poured one of those into a glass and debated on whether or not he wanted something to eat. By the time Cas sat down at the table there was an omelet, a bowl of salad and a PB&J sandwich waiting for him.

"I didn't know what you'd like, so I made a bit of everything. I don't get guests often, if that's not obvious already." Ghost laughed nervously and sat down across from him, watching as he downed his glass of water as though he hadnt had a drink in years. "So, uh, who'd you end up calling?"

"My friend Dean." Cas said as he started on the omelet. "He's coming to get me as soon as he can."

"Oh that's good..." Ghost didn't really know what else to say, she had never been one for small talk. "I'm gonna have to duck outside for just a few minutes, if you don't mind. I forgot to put the hens back into their coop. The last time that happened I found them all up in a tree so I'd like to avoid that situation again..." Cas was to focused on eating to acknowledge her again so she awkwardly excused herself and dashed outside. Taking a deep breath of the cool night air, she walked to the other end of the yard where the chickens were held. They clucked sleepily at her as she herded them inside and shut the latch firmly.

"You've gotten yourself into a right mess, idiot." She chastised herself quietly, resting her forehead on the roof of the coop. There was no one else around to agree with that statement so she stood back up and wandered around the yard, doing small, menial tasks to put off going back inside. It was after she had finished arranging the lawnmowers by size that a pair of headlights lit up the trees around the property and a shiny black impala drove up the driveway. Ghost jogged up after it to greet the man who emerged from the driver's side.

"You must be Castiel's friend!" Ghost panted as soon as she reached him and held out a hand for him to shake. He took it firmly in one of his own. "I'm Ghost, the one who found him."

"I'm Dean, nice to meet you." The man gave her a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. He looked dead tired. "Ghost is a bit unusual of a name."

"It's a nickname actually, my real name is Joanna. You can call me 'Jo' if you'd like." A strange look passed over Dean's face and he released her hand.

"Ghost will do just fine...Is Cas back in the house?"

"Yeah, you can head on in if you'd like. I'll join you in a minute, I need to lock up the garage real quick." Ghost said gesturing behind her. Dean gave a nod and headed up the front steps. Ghost waited until he was inside the house before eagerly digging her phone out of her pocket. She groaned as soon as the "no service" warning popped up.

"Two attractive men in my house and absolutely no means to tell anyone about it. Just my luck." Ghost said aloud and heard a muffled banging in response. She looked around a little bit before her eyes landed on the trunk of the impala. Walking over to it, she rested her head on the lid and banged out a tune on the metal, jerking her head back as something inside copied it.

Curiosity may have killed the cat and was most likely going to kill her too, but that didn't deter Ghost form her new goal of breaking into Dean's car. Making a makeshift tension wrench out of a bobby pin like she had seen on the internet, she stuck it into the lock and wiggled another bonny pin in it, expecting it to break or do nothing at all. Her patience was rewarded by a small click and the lid lifted up a few inches. After double checking that the men weren't looking out at her, she pushed the lid up all the way and jumped back with a shriek, clapping a hand over her mouth to stifle the noise.

There was a man inside.


	3. Livin' on a prayer

All rights belong to Supernatural and any other respective company,

Reviews are always appreciated,

Enjoy!

* * *

There had been very few times in her life that Ghost was as stumped as she was at that moment. This was clearly some sort of mob hit; The man was handcuffed and had a strip of duct tape covering his mouth. There was really only one way to find out what the deal was.

"I'm not gonna remove your duct tape so you're gonna have to nod for yes and shake your head for no. Have you been abducted?" Ghost asked him.

A nod.

"Okay, are you in any way evil?"

A head shake. Although, an evil person would probably say the same thing.

"Did Dean do this to you? Is he a bad person?"

Two nods.

"Lastly, if I help you out, you're not gonna kill me are you?"

A head shake, the last affirmation she needed. She helped the man out of the trunk and quickly lead him over to the tool shed beside the house.

"Stay in here until they leave, I'll come and get you after." Ghost told him as she shoved him inside and locked the door. With that done, she slammed the trunk shut and ran inside to where the others were waiting.

"Sorry, had a slight problem with the chickens, they wouldn't go to bed without a story." She lied as she found them in the living room.

"It sounded like you were talking to someone out there.." Dean said suspiciously.

"Yeah, I read them a story. So sue me."

"Uhuh...Listen, thanks for all your hospitality but Cas and I really have to get going. It was nice meeting you." Dean brushed past her on his way out the door but Cas took an extra second to say goodbye. Standing on the porch watching them leave, Ghost waved until long after the taillights were out of view, only then did she allow herself to breathe normally again. Her fingered tapped lightly on the railing as she stared at the small shed to her right. She still had no clue what she was going to do about the man in her shed.

Going back to the kitchen, the corners of her mouth lifted slightly as she saw all the neatly stacked, empty plates on the table; Cas had eaten everything. Dumping the dishes into the sink, she filled it fill of hot water and set about making herself a cup of tea as well. It felt better to be doing something so routine after what had just happened and she soon began to hum tunelessly to herself. The dishes were drying and she was making herself another cup of tea when the rumble of an engine outside interrupted her thoughts. She ignored it, thinking it was just some douchebag on the road, but a loud pounding on the front door made her nearly jump out of her skin. Ghost grabbed a baseball bat from the front closet and opened the door cautiously, keeping the bat at shoulder height. Standing on the front step was a very pissed looking Dean and Cas.

"Where is he?!" Dean demanded, shoving his way past her once more.

"Where's who?" Ghost paled instantly.

"Crowley, or as you know him, the man who you stole from the trunk of my car." Dean began rooting through the hall closet before giving up and heading towards the kitchen to search the cupboards there. "Cas! Check upstairs."

"He's not here!" Ghost watched in horror as Cas started up the stairs. "You stay out of the room at the end of the hall! That's my room!"

"Make sure you check that room first!" Dean shouted up the stairwell after stopping his search of the kitchen. He rounded on Ghost stood over her. "Cut the crap, just tell us where he is. We _will_ find him eventually, even if we have to destroy this house to do it."

"I don't know whe-" Another glare from Dean. "He's out in the tool shed, just follow me."

Ghost lead the way, internally apologizing to Crowley the whole time; she was most likely giving this poor man a death sentence. Unlocking the padlock, she swung the door open with a flourish and pointed inside - it was empty. Her jaw dropped and Dean's tightened considerably.

"He was in here, I swear!"

"Oh I believe you, those are his handcuffs on the floor next to that pair of pliers and those pieces of wire. Were you honestly stupid enough to think he wouldn't try to escape?" Dean fumed.

Ghost flinched, "Dean, I'm sorry. What does it matter anyway?"

"What matters is the fact that you just unleashed the king of Hell as well the last hope my brother may have had at surviving. Thanks a lot."

"Why am I supposed to believe that? I thought and still think that you're the lunatic in this situation and now youre telling me this man-demon-thing is actually the bad guy? How do I know you're not lying?" She crossed her arms defiantly.

"Because I can show you proof. C'mon, I'll take you to the hospital where my brother is, let you look at all the medical reports that give him just days to live. Will that be enough proof for you? Or should I wake him out of his coma and have him tell you himself?"

"I don't understand what you want me to do about all this? I can donate a kidney I suppose, maybe even a lobe of my liver if I'm a match. Does he need a bone marrow transplant or something?" Dean looked at her incredulously and then barked a laugh.

"You wouldn't seriously do that for someone you don't know based off of what I tell you. You said it yourself; I'm a lunatic."

"Well then, let me help you find this 'Crowley' person." Ghost said exasperatedly.

"No." Dean didn't even think twice.

"Why not?"

"Because it's dangerous, first off, you don't even know the half of what you'd be getting yourself into. Secondly, I don't need some fourteen-year old amateur running around screwing things up. You don't even know what it is that we do!" Dean shot back.

"I'm seventeen, thank you very much...Well if Cas really is an angel then...you're a priest?" Ghost gave it her best, half-assed attempt.

"Not even close." Dean gave a humourless chuckle and shook his head. "We've wasted enough time here as it is, thanks for losing Crowley, hope we don't see you around anytime soon."

"Dean, wait!" He ignored her as he got back into the impala. Cas gave Ghost an almost sympathetic look as he got into the passenger side. The drove off once more and Ghost stood outside for a long time before she came up with another plan; if Cas was an angel and the rest had fallen, then there would have to be at least one willing to help her. It was a long shot but her best shot at making things right again. Placing her palms together, she closed her eyes and bowed her head before speaking aloud.

"Ummm, hi. If there is any angel listening right now, I need your help. I've screwed up, and I need to make things up to Castiel, you've probably heard of him, and Dean...I don't know what his last name is but you probably know him too. So if one of you, any one of you, could just give me some sort of sign or something to lead me in the right direction, that would be great. Whether it be a bright light or voices in my head or something, I don't care. Just, please, I could really use some help right now...I guess that's all...do I have to end off with an amen? Amen, then." Ghost opened her eyes and waited a bit for a response. A chicken clucked sleepily in the coop but she didn't think that was the sign she was looking for and headed back inside feeling rather ridiculous.

For miles all around her, heads raised up and sights were set on the small farmhouse. She had been heard; the angels were coming.


	4. Halos and kindness not included

All rights belong to Supernatural and any other respective companies,

Reviews are always appreciated,

Enjoy!

* * *

Dawn was just breaking when the sound of car engines startled Ghost awake from a rather fitful sleep. Rubbing the sleep out her eyes and mumbling angrily to herself, she slid open the blinds on her window to see if it was the neighbors down the road hosting a party again, but found herself staring at no less than fifteen cars (and for some strange reason, a tractor) parked all over the property. They weren't empty of course, a large group of people had gathered around on the front lawn. Some were conversing, some were standing awkwardly away from the others, some were glaring at the surroundings, and two seemed to be engaged in a heated argument. Ghost grabbed her cellphone and had already started to dial 911 when an insane thought came to mind. What if the people outside were the angels she had called to arms? If that was the case, the police werent going to believe her. But on the other hand, she couldn't tell whether or not the people outside were angels or just part of a flash mob, they weren't exactly sporting wings or halos as far as she could see. Her only logical solution was to do the simplest thing she could; ask.

The window above her bed proved to difficult to open, but Ghost finally managed to get the crank to work and popped the screen out. Just as she was leaning out to get their attention, one of the people arguing, a short, brunette woman not much older than Ghost, dropped a thin blade out of her sleeve and stabbed her opponent, a middle-aged business man type who outweighed her by at least 150 lbs. There was a flash of bright light, that seemed to originate from the man himself, and Ghost let out a shrill shriek. After the light faded away she became aware of two things simultaneously; that the people outside were in fact angels, and against her current wishes, she had their attention. She threw herself away from the window and fell off her bed and onto the floor. Chancing another look, she crawled back over to the window and peeked out. All hell had broken loose. More fights had broken out, punctuated by the occasional flash of light, as the angels all vied to get into the house. Yet another car sped into the yard but the sound of breaking glass had Ghost distracted from the window before she could see who it was. She couldn't tell what window downstairs had been broken, but it didn't matter. What mattered was the fact that the angry mob of angels now had a way into the house and it was only a matter of time before they found her. It wasn't supposed to be like this. The angels she had pictured in her head versus the ones that had actually showed up were two entirely different things that shared only the similarity of looking human. Even then, Ghost knew that it probably wasn't even their true form.

Heavy footsteps racing up the stairs broke her out of her thoughts and she had little time to prepare herself before the door to her bedroom burst open. As was such, the man who had broken in found himself staring down a teenager brandishing a curling iron.

"What the-" He didn't look particularly threatening, more confused and slightly weirded out by her choice of weapon.

"I'm warning you! Step any closer and I'll...I'll.." The curling iron wasn't even plugged in and Ghost struggled to find a convincing threat.

"Curl my hair for me? We don't have time for that. You need to come with me before the others get up here."

"Umm, you just broke into my house and now you want me to leave with you? Are you crazy?"

"No, but I am your only chance of surviving. My brothers and sisters will not treat you so kindly, but I will take you to Dean Winchester. You just have to trust me." As if proving his point, another window downstairs shattered.

"How can I trust you won't hurt me? I don't even know your name." Ghost backed further away from him but lowered the curling iron.

"My name is Ezekiel, I wish I could explain more but right now we need to leave. The others will not be held back for long." He said, casting an uneasy glance towards the staircase. Ghost could only imagine what he had done to keep the other angels at bay.

"...Okay, I...I need a couple minutes to pack and leave my aunt and uncle a note though. I'm not leaving here empty handed." Ezekiel didn't look pleased with her stalling but held a hand indicating that she had five minutes and headed back downstairs. Ghost worked quickly, throwing clothes and toiletries haphazardly into a duffle bag before frantically digging around her desk for a pen and some paper. All she could find was an orange glitter gel pen and some hotel stationary which seemed wrong given the situation, but she didn't have any more time to find something else. She wrote that she was sorry for the mess and that she had to leave for an indeterminate amount but that they shouldn't worry and definitely shouldn't call the police. It was weak and didn't say what she hoped it would but maybe that was for the best. At the very bottom she added a P.S. telling them to stay safe and keep away from any strangers that come to the house for the next little while. With that done, she stuck the note to her vanity mirror before grabbing her bag and racing downstairs, colliding into Ezekiel as he waited at the bottom.

"You took six and a half minutes." He said moodily, grabbing her arm and dragging her towards the back door. There were no other angels in the house but a number of strange symbols were scrawled along the walls and windows.

"So? A minute and a half extra is not a big deal."

"In this situation it is. Keep your head down and just run to the car directly out back. I will meet you there." He shoved her out the back door and she had to struggle to stay upright; the weight of her duffle bag did a good job of knocking her off balance. As soon as she hit the grass, several pairs of hands tried to grab hold of her but all were wrenched off giving her enough time to sprint to the vehicle. Sliding over the hood - perhaps not as gracefully as in the movies- she climbed into the passenger side seat and slammed the door shut, only seconds ahead of Ezekiel who immediately started the car up and threw it in reverse before she even had her seat belt on.

"I'm gonna survive an angel attack and die in a car accident. I'm gonna be sick." Ghost whimpered as she got her seat belt clicked in just as Ezekiel narrowly avoided hitting her truck and shifted back into drive, speeding out onto thenhghway at what must have been double the posted speed limit. She kept checking in the rearview mirror, waiting for other cars, maybe even the tractor, to start tailing them but just as she thought she caught the first glimpse of a windshield, Ezekiel took a sudden, sharp turn that slammed her against the window.

"This classifies as hurting me you know!" She squeaked as he took several more hairpin turns down random side roads. He ignored her and continued to drive at a breakneck speed until they reached the main highway again, only then did he slow down and she was able to breathe a bit easier. "Where are we going anyway?"

"To find Dean Winchester. I hope you can remember where he said he was going." Ezekiel answered.

"Uhhh, no, why am I supposed to know? I thought you did."

"I assumed Dean told you."

"Dean told me to fuck off and not much else! I have no idea where he is." Ezekiel turned to look at her angrily and she came up with a quick solution. "But! But, I do know that his brother is sick and in a hospital somewhere so I bet if we check all the ones in the area, we will find him! It didn't take Dean all that long to get to my house so he couldn't have been that far away!"

Ghost was eating her words after five hospitals and still no sign of Dean or his brother. Ezekiel was growing more and more frustrated as time went on, probably not helped by Ghost's insistence of road trip music. After Queens Greatest Hits I, she was 90% sure that Ezekiel was actually the angel of bitch faces and by the time she popped in the second CD, she doubted he would ever look happy again.

"You know, it wouldn't be so bad if you sang along." She said earnestly.

"I'm not going to-"

"I WANT TO BREAK FREE. I WANT TO BREEAAK FREE!" Ghost cut him off mid sentence and he looked as though he would've smited her on the spot if he still had the power too. Choosing to not act on his anger, Ezekiel simply ejected the CD and threw it into the backseat where Ghost wouldn't be able to reach it.

"Hey! That was my favourite song!" She said instantly pissed off by the silence.

"This isn't the time for it. We still have to find the right hospital and have had no luck so far."

"There's still another three hospitals we can check and I bet it will be one of those!" Ghost said confidently. But they were still no closer to their goal by the end of the day and even she had to admit that things weren't going so well as the sun began to set. Despite objections that they should keep going, Ghost managed to convince Ezekiel to stop at a motel for the night. He may have not needed the rest, but she sure did. As she got ready for bed, Ezekie stood guard by the door, still poring over maps of other hospitals as far as 200 miles away.

"Why can't you just find Dean like you found me? I didn't give out my location or anything and you knew where to go." Ghost asked through a mouthful of toothpaste.

"Because he is concealed from angels. Certain enochian symbols have that power."

"Oh...Why were the other angels acting so weirdly back at the house? I don't get why they were willing to kill each other over me."

"It's because you mentioned Castiel. Many of them believe him to be the cause behind us falling from heaven." Ezekiel answered simply and Ghost found it hard to read his facial expression.

"And what do you believe?"

"That is not of any importance right now. You should get to sleep. I don't want to stay here too long. I'm too weak to fend off any other angels if they find us here." He gave her a signature bitch face until she had settled down into one of the beds and turned off the light. She didn't sleep much, the thought of what lay ahead and what she had left behind kept her tossing and turning until the sun had started to rise again.

And then it was time to go.


End file.
